Las Vegas Sands sues Sun over business column

Thursday, July 20, 2006 | 7:27 a.m.

Las Vegas Sands Corp., owner of the Venetian, has filed a libel lawsuit against the Las Vegas Sun, Publisher Barbara Greenspun and Sun Business Editor and columnist Jeff Simpson.

The lawsuit, filed in Clark County District Court, asks for more than $10,000 in damages Sands claims was caused by a Simpson column published April 2. The column analyzed the competitors for a Singapore casino license. Las Vegas Sands was eventually selected to build the casino.

The Sands' lawsuit claims that the Sun and Simpson acted with malice in writing that Sands has a "sorry Nevada regulatory record," a claim the Sands' suit said was false, and that Sands has suffered and will continue to suffer from the characterization.

"The column was neither malicious nor factually incorrect," Michael J. Kelley, managing editor of the Sun, said yesterday. "It was a legitimate effort to guess the likely winner for a casino license in Singapore, and falls well within the definition of fair comment under the First Amendment. The writer, in a later column, congratulated Las Vegas Sands after it won. And Las Vegas Sands' regulatory record, everywhere it does business or is working to do business, is a matter of public record. This is a frivolous suit, and we will vigorously defend it."